president kennedy took the position that if a person had a sixth grade education, that person should be considered literate and should able to register to vote. those of us in the student nonviolent coordinating committee took the position that the only qualification for being able to register to vote in america should be that of age and residency, nothing more or anything less. we wanted a much stronger bill. but the whole idea of the march was not to support a particular piece of legislation. it was a march for jobs and freedom. it was a coalition of conscience to say to the congress and say to the president of the united states, "you must act." we didn't think that the proposed bill was commensurate to all of the suffering, to the beatings, to the jailing, to the killing that had occurred in the south. amy goodman: congressman john lewis. he's just written a new book called across that bridge: life lessons and a vision for change. i'll continue the interview with him in a moment. [break] amy goodman: "ain't gonna let nobody turn me round," the sncc freedom singers, a group that tr